


hard, but necessary

by orphan_account



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 18:24:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19729240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: the same, but different.or: lets add depth to this whole war survivor thing, shall we?





	hard, but necessary

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i havent written a sonic fic in Literally 8 years but i got really angry about forces and wrote this before i could stop myself. hope you enjoy!

His calculations aren't fast enough. That's the only thing going through Tails' mind. _His calculations aren't fast enough._  
  
Sonic is being tossed through the air like a hacky sack after almost every villain they'd ever fought seemingly materialized out of thin air to fight them. Tails hasn't been much of a fighter for some time now, not since he was 8 and scrappy and embedded with the simple will of making Sonic proud, and that was fine. What wasn't fine was he was completely botching his current role as genius inventor, and Sonic was getting trashed over it.  
  
Something...weird about his readings kept forcing him to redo everything over and over, an endless circle, until there's a loud thud in front of the rock he's hiding behind.  
  
There, knocked down and out, lays Sonic. He's unmoving, unnaturally so, and Tails yells out his name in a quick panic. Skills be damned, he was ready to jump headfirst back into the fray, if only to make sure Sonic was still alive. But with a second glance at all of his enemies looming above and slowly surrounding the blue hedgehog, the orange fox does the only thing his mind is screaming at him to do.  
  
He turns tail and runs.  


* * *

  
  
When Zavok approaches the prison Sonic has called home for much longer than he'd ever like to say, there's a deep urge to say something he knows would get him some intense karma later on. But, when his cuffs phase away before his eyes, it's like the best punchline to the best joke. Sonic hops up and runs circles around the hefty creature, if just to taunt him a bit, before starting a real fight with him.  
  
The fight is more of a pathetic tussle. A warm up, even. If anything, it's definitely a terribly poor display for someone who'd been threatening his life for months now.  
  
Payback tastes a certain kind of sweet. Maybe too much so, actually. But the sound and feeling of foregoing the regular homing attack and simply punching and kicking Zavok until he fell flat on his dumb, stupid face? A priceless experience.  
  
And then Zavok phases out of existence, not unlike his cuffs, if a bit more staticy. It's...unnerving. But the building is beginning to crumble. There's no time to think about it now.  


* * *

  
  
"I'm sorry!" is the second thing that explodes out of Tails' mouth, right after Sonic's name. He's holding the tall hedgehog in a tight hug, twin tails unbidden and spinning fast enough to lift him slightly in the air. The fox is more than aware of the stares of the other resistance members, but it's nothing in the face of seeing his best friend again, alive and well. The tears that have gathered at his eyelids somehow don't affect his voice too terribly. "I...I was so worried!" he sniffs. "You...I saw you just take hit after hit and there were _so many_ of them and I didn't know what else I could do and I'm so _sorry—_ " a sob cuts him off, and a firm pat to the back calms him more than it has any right to.  
  
There are murmurs dancing around them as Tails pulls back a bit, grounding himself and blinking his watery eyes to take a real actual look at Sonic.  
  
What he sees is...less than great.  
  
Sonic stands with a smile that's so forced it looks almost painful. His quills sit awkwardly, like they hadn't been properly cared for in ages. His stance is guarded, closed, and his eyes are so dull it's like they'd never been the bright emerald green they'd always been. The sight pulls at Tails' heart, overpowering the thought that to Sonic, he probably looked much of the same. Tears threaten him again, but Sonic gives him a quick shoulder squeeze, smile a bit more genuine, and he manages to stop them preemptively.  
  
"Good to see you too, Tails," he says with a voice that's mostly warm, but frosted at the edges. As if realizing it, he gives a small thumbs up to really sell it, and then pulls away from Tails entirely. Sonic talks business from then, and so does Tails, effectively killing the whispers. The latter doesn't try to close the gap between him and his friend, and they head out on a new mission soon thereafter. They don't talk on the way there.  


* * *

  
  
Sonic is cautious when he faces Eggman. As he gets an explanation for the weird black hole Infinite produced out of nowhere, he motions for Tails to stay back. He takes a step back himself, eyeing the null space with thinly veiled apprehension. The doctor spouts some nonsense, as he does, and flies off with his lackies before the glorified jackal shoots at his creation and takes off after them.  
  
Sonic is cautious, but not cautious enough.  
  
The null space expands and pulls with a force he's not prepared for. There's nothing nearby, nothing nailed down, and Sonic feels like kicking himself for being so nearsighted. The hole yawns and sucks him in near effortlessly, and moments before the blue blur is ready to accept his fate, something grabs on. He looks up, panicked that Tails had moved and was trying to help, but it's not the two tailed fox he sees.  
  
It's Gadget.  
  
And then it's the empty, angry red of the null space.  


* * *

  
  
When Eggman has been taken down, Infinite has run away, and everything is said and done, Sonic and Tails are never in the same place. It's not purposeful, but it's what happens.  
  
Amy and Silver make personal goals of helping one another and everyone else recover. Silver starts by giving an apology to Tails, always stationed in the base, who had no doubt heard about the less than stellar things he'd said about the fox. Tails laughs it off, and Silver moves on with a smile. Tails waves after him, the grin he'd plastered on his face falling soon after the hedgehog is out of sight.  
  
Apparently, the exact wording Silver had used was "lost it," but Tails had heard things like "unhinged" and "completely lost the plot." The rude descriptors had started rolling in proper back when his visits to the home base became more and more infrequent. Sure, he only came back every couple of weeks or so when they needed him there everyday, but it's not exactly easy to focus when you think your best friend (who might as well be your brother at this point) is dead. In Tails' mind, he was dead, and he had done absolutely nothing to help when he could.  
  
It's a bitter memory, one the fox boy doesn't like to recall. With a deep sigh, Tails wraps his namesakes around himself tightly and continues to idly tinker on the doohickey he'd been messing with all day. There were things to be done.  
  
  
Getting ahold of Sonic is difficult, as he's always trying to help restore some differing part of Mobius, but eventually Amy tracks him down. He's impatient as always, and not quite a fan of the fact she's seemingly stopped him just for a checkup. He waves off most of her concerns, bored expression on his face, ready to speed off before she grabs his arm. He stiffens immediately.  
  
"Sonic," Amy says, very serious, "are you okay?" He opens his mouth to reply, but she continues. "You're shaking." And, huh. She's right. With his mouth slightly agape, Sonic can fully appreciate the fact that he's trembling in earnest for a full three seconds. He shakes his head and breaks out of Amy's grasp, taking a couple steps back before shaking out his entire body.  
  
"Me?" the hedgehog grins once he's still again, one hand on his hip, "I'm fine! It's just a bit of the running jitters, is all!" The thumbs up he gives is as weak as his excuse, but Amy doesn't push much further. She makes him promise to come by the base soon, just to make sure he was alright, and gives him a quick hug before letting him go. Sonic is gone before she can finish her goodbye.  
  
  
The first time Sonic and Tails see each other again is two weeks and four days after Eggman has been defeated and jailed. Amy and Silver have set up a group to talk things out, but the blue and orange duo aren't very cooperative. The heads of the resistance sit in a loose circle in the base, Sonic pulled away from everyone and Tails using his tails as makeshift shields from the others. They're not quite on opposite ends of each other, only three people separating them, but Amy notices that they won't so much as glance in each other's direction.  
  
The meeting is a relative success for everyone besides the two friends. Sonic lasts an impressive 15 minutes before his turn, in which he politely informs everyone, "This was great, really a swell idea Ames, but I don't think it's really for me," and leaves the room. Tails, seeing an opening, hops up once the door closes behind the hedgehog.  
  
"I think I'm gonna head out too, Amy," he mumbles, not looking at her. "Sorry." With that, he exits the same way Sonic had not even a minute before.  
  
It's not like they go looking for each other, because they don't. Sonic heads down one hallway and Tails the other, but somehow they congregate at the same balcony anyways.  
  
"Hey," Sonic says as Tails strolls near, hands dangling off the tailing and eyes glued to the cliffside scene. "Long time no see." Tails gives a small smile at the familiar phrase.  
  
"Yeah," he agrees with a low chuckle, taking a spot a couple inches away from the blur and mirroring him, "long time indeed."  
  
They stay like that for a while, Sonic tapping his foot to an unhearable beat and Tails swaying his twins in a slow rhythm. It's quiet here, removed from the others. The two enjoy each others company in silence, until Tails gives a long suffering sigh.  
  
"We should talk about it," he says at the air, not showing the words their proper destination.  
  
"It?" Sonic replies anyways after a short while, because he always does.  
  
"The war," Tails clarifies, "and what it did to us." Sonic gives a small noise as a response, something between a laugh and a scoff.  
  
"You can get what you need off your chest if you want," he offers, turning and leaning back on the railing while crossing his arms, "but I'm good, thanks." Tails frowns at him.  
  
"What I went through was bad, sure, but it's nothing compared to what happened to you, Sonic." The teen takes his turn to frown, his deeper than Tails.  
  
"Don't," he warns in a low tone. Tails doesn't heed it.  
  
"You were defeated—"  
  
" _Don't,_ Tails," he says again, lifting up and facing the boy head on. He grips his folded arms, a hot pulse of anger shooting at him. The fox's tails sweep the floor one by one as he turns away from the bannister too, flowing faster with his emotions.  
  
"You were captured for _six months,_ Sonic!" he shouts.  
  
"And I don't wanna talk about it, okay?!" the hedgehog shouts right back. "I don't wanna talk about what Eggman and his cronies did to me, I don't wanna talk about how they kept me holed up in a cage, and I don't wanna talk about how I couldn't do anything until help was already on the way!"  
  
"Sonic," Tails interjects, quietly.  
  
"No! Tails, I don't wanna do it!" Sonic holds himself tightly, pacing in a small circle. "I don't wanna do that to Amy, I don't wanna do it to you, I don't wanna do it to anybody!" He's yelling, but it's not really a conscious thought. "I'm not going to do it, alright? I'm not!"  
  
"Sonic," Tails tries again, louder. Sonic rounds on him.  
  
"What?!" he questions hotly, only for all the fight to leave him a second after. Tails is looking at him with drooping ears and tails and barely contained tears. He points at his companion with a shaky hand.  
  
"You're crying," is all he says. Sonic blinks rapidly, before putting a hand to his eye. Sure enough, when he pulls it away, there's a small wet patch.  
  
"Oh," he whispers smartly, before sitting on the floor. Tears begin to shed unbidden now as he scoots himself closer to the wall. He lays his head against the steel backing, still looking at his hand, and repeats, "Oh." Tails joins him, still a few inches away and mostly tear free. His uneven breaths are watery, though.  
  
They sit for a minute, silent, before Sonic relents. "Maybe we should talk about it," he says in a small voice. Tails perks up a bit, looking over at his companion.  
  
"Really?" Sonic doesn't reply for a long moment, shutting his eyes tightly and taking a deep breath. But, he soon opens them with a loud huff, a tiny and tired smile on his face.  
  
"Yeah, buddy."

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i love you!!  
> i love comments but please no criticism, positive or otherwise! ;w;  
> this is probably not the best but!!!! sonic forces couldve been great and it makes me upset and the lack of the Everything After And In Between Makes Me So Mad im ghkshkdfk  
> this is Mostly abt sonic & tails so i didnt rlly write about everyone else but i firmly believe they All need some good talks & comfort  
> note notes:  
> did i use the word force enough times lol  
> also did i maybe skip the classic sonic parts? perhaps. he adds nothing narratively so whatever! gadget is so cool tho if i could think of a way to add him in a better way i wouldve. gadget one day ima do you good i s2g  
> this ends kinda abruptly but...i like it. feels good feels organic


End file.
